FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SUPER BOWL - PAGE 2

The media's making a lot of hoop-la over it but lets face it, our budgets are never sexy. Be it Jas or Yash, Monty or Pranab, neither our FMs nor our government seems to have any sexy bone in them. Look at how the Americans go about it. US President George Bush did not bat an eyelid before putting out $70 million for community- based abstinence grants in the 2004-05 Budget, while allocating $25 million for abstinence education. In simple English, it means $70 million was set aside for keeping people off sex and an extra $25 million was thrown in for teaching them how to go about it. He did not care that he was alienating the younger voters to please their conservative parents on election eve and what with the Valentine's day just around the corner.

Island. Castaway. The Donny and Marie Show. Not just daytime TV reruns, but one of the themes running through Super Bowl 2003. It's the advertising festival masquerading as a football match. And that's official: this year, TiVo, the digital video recording company that tracks what Americans are tuned in to, revealed that more viewers watched the commercials than the game. Talk to anyone with a TV set in America, and they'll say the same thing: the ads are as important as the plays.

It takes a lot to give a name like Monster to one's brand. But Jeff Taylor, founder and chairman, Monster.com, isn't one to shy away from risk. Whether it's taking on a challenge from Richard Branson to a blimp water-skiing competition, or spending a few million dollars on putting his brand on the Super Bowl, Taylor's game. As is only to be expected from a man who's a good friend of Seth Godin. After seeing a recent issue of Brand Equity with Godin on the cover, Taylor told us they meet at least once a week over dinner.

The big game is even bigger this year. As media markets grow increasingly fragmented and the ongoing writers' strike creates uncertainties about the upcoming television season, the Super Bowl is carrying more weight than ever among advertisers hoping to reach a mass of viewers. Despite the increasing likelihood of recession, Super Bowl spots were nearly sold out by early January ? several weeks sooner than in the past. Advertisers are paying record prices of $2.7 million to $3 million for a 30-second commercial during Fox Broadcasting's telecast of Super Bowl XLII on February 3, which is expected to draw more than 140 million viewers around the world.

Thirty seconds is no longer enough on Super Bowl Sunday. Many advertisers would like a minute of your time, at least. Last year's broadcast included 22 ads that ran for 60 seconds or longer, according to Kantar Media. These long-playing commercials accounted for 40% of all paid spots during the game, the most since at least 1984. Here's how the trend looks over the last five years (see chart): The preference for a minute or more during the Super Bowl runs counter to a general trend toward brevity.

TAMPA: NBC said on the eve of Sunday's Super Bowl that it has sold the last two of the 69 advertising spots for the game, pushing total ad revenue for the event to a record $206 million. The network said its total of $261 million in ad revenue for all of Super Bowl day also is a record, calling it an especially impressive feat in the middle of the economy's steep downturn. The Super Bowl is the premier advertising event with an U.S. audience of 100 million viewers, many of whom watch closely during game breaks for the debut of entertaining, big-budget commercials.

Super Bowl-winning Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken "The Snake" Stabler has died at the age of 69, his family announced on Thursday. Media reports say the cause of death was complications from colon cancer. Stabler guided the Raiders to their first Super Bowl victory in January 1977, a 32-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. He was nicknamed "The Snake" for his elusiveness on the field, and played 184 NFL games for the Raiders, Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints.

What does LalBahadurShastri's rallying cry of 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisaan ' have to do with the American Super Bowl of 2013? Well, shortly after watching two of the films from this year's show reel, one from Jeep that eulogised the soldier and another from Dodge that celebrated the farmer, BBDO'sJosy Paul was quick to point out how closely these tied in with Shastri's most famous slogan. The other rallying cry at Super Bowl 2013 (at least if the ratings from Kantar are anything to go by)

NEW YORK: A Chrysler commercial featuring rapper Eminem and a lighthearted Volkswagen advertisement triumphed on Super Bowl Sunday, as the annual battle of the brands turned into an all-out marketing blitz by automakers . A science-fiction-themed ad for Motorola's new Xoom tablet computer was among the other spots praised by several marketing experts who watched this year's Super Bowl, along with 100 million or...

JACKSONVILLE: The Patriots became a full-fledged dynasty with their third Super Bowl victory in four years on Sunday night, beating the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21. New England claimed a spot alongside the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s, the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 70s, the San Francisco 49ers of the 80s and the Dallas Cowboys of the 90s. "We're champions now. That's it," safety Rodney Harrison said. New England becomes just the seventh franchise to claim back-to-back titles.